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For the first half of the season, they left us dreaming of October baseball in Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Brewers stood at 45-41 at the All-Star break and had been above .500 for almost the entire season. Yes, the pitching was almost single-handedly carrying the club, and, yes, the offense was inconsistent at best, but the thinking among optimists was that if they had gone this far, there was no reason they couldn’t continue.

Those optimists must have had a short memory.

The Brewers have teased their fans plenty of times since 1992, or the last time they had a winning season. Before this year, the biggest flirtation was in 1997 after they pulled close to American League Central Division-leading Cleveland and acquired Julio Franco at the trading deadline in time to try and make a run for the playoffs. But an absolute collapse in August and September snapped the Brewers back into reality, and the losing continued.

But this year gave fans a glimpse at what a winning baseball team looks like. The blockbuster nine-player deal that sent Richie Sexson to the Diamondbacks and gave the Brewers Chris Capuano, Craig Counsell, Chad Moeller, Lyle Overbay, Junior Spivey and a minor leaguer turned out to be the biggest one-sided deal in the major leagues. Ben Sheets’ 18-strikeout game, Moeller’s cycle and numerous thrilling come-from-behind victories early in the season gave people all the more reason to come to Miller Park.

But in the back of everyone’s mind, there had to be a feeling that they couldn’t keep this up. The pitching was getting almost no support. Last year’s rookie of the year runner-up, Scott Posednik, and All-Star Geoff Jenkins were slumping badly and showing no signs of breaking the trend. And the bottom of the order was a black hole.

When starting pitchers know they have to throw a near-perfect game to win, it will eventually take its toll, and that’s exactly what is happening now.

A classic example came in a June 8 game versus the Anaheim Angels, one of many masterful outings Sheets has pitched this year. In this game, Sheets took a perfect game into the seventh

inning and finished allowing one hit and no runs over nine innings.

They went into extra innings tied 0-0.

Now, the offense has been taking the pitching, as well as the defense, with it. Sheets’ earned-run-average is over 3 for the first time all year, after leading the major leagues in that department for a time. The other dependable starters, including Doug Davis, Victor Santos and Capuano, have done likewise. Spivey and Keith Ginter have been out with injuries, and near-flawless defense that the Brewers displayed is a distant memory.

I was never so happy to come back to Eau Claire and the dorms, a place where there is no Fox Sports Net to watch this depressing team. I no longer have to sit and watch Jenkins swing for Lake Michigan on every single pitch. I don’t have to see the bullpen blow it when the Brewers actually get a lead. I don’t have to listen to Daron Sutton and Bill Schroeder during a blowout talk about milking a cow with Bert Blyleven.

But this song is all too familiar with Brewers fans. And unless the alleged star-studded minor league system comes through in the next few years, there’s no reason to believe it won’t continue.